Abstract: An installation for heat treatment or thermochemical treatment of steel permit instantaneous and permanent checking of the concentration of carbon at the surface of the steel, particularly in the course of the carbon enrichment of the surface zone of a workpiece. The process provides for the circulation in contact with this surface zone of a gaseous flux permitting the saturation concentration of carbon at the surface to be obtained at maximum speed, and for regulating this flux as a function of time. The installation comprises a monitored-atmosphere furnace having an input and an outlet for a gaseous flux, feed means forming this gaseous flux, and means for regulating the gaseous flux; it is equipped with data-storage and/or calculating means, and the feed means are designed to form a gaseous flux suitable for obtaining a saturation concentration of carbon at the surface of the workpieces in less than one minute.

Abstract: A process and an installation for heat treatment or thermochemical treatment of steel permit instantaneous and permanent checking of the concentration of carbon at the surface of the steel, particularly in the course of the carbon enrichment of the surface zone of a workpiece. The process provides for the circulation in contact with this surface zone of a gaseous flux permitting the saturation concentration of carbon at the surface to be obtained at maximum speed, and for regulating this flux as a function of time. The installation comprises a monitored-atmosphere furnace having an input and an outlet for a gaseous flux, feed means forming this gaseous flux, and means for regulating the gaseous flux; it is equipped with data-storage and/or calculating means, and the feed means are designed to form a gaseous flux suitable for obtaining a saturation concentration of carbon at the surface of the workpieces in less than one minute.